To: State and Territorial Lead Agencies administering child care programs under the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 1990, as amended, and other interested parties.

Subject: This Program Instruction (PI) transmits the Quality Performance Report (QPR) (ACF-118 Appendix 1) for the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) program for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2013, and provides guidance for completing and submitting the QPR.

Purpose: The purpose of the annual QPR is to capture State and Territory progress on improving the quality of child care. Specifically, this report will 1) Provide a national assessment of State and Territory progress toward improving the quality of child care, including a focus on program quality and child care workforce quality; 2) track State and Territory annual progress toward meeting high-quality indicators and benchmarks, including those that they set for themselves in their CCDF Plans and those that are of interest to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in measuring CCDF program performance; 3) assist national, State, and Territory technical assistance efforts to help States and Territories make strategic use of quality funds; and 4) assist with program accountability.

OCC is collecting this information as one part of our overall effort to better understand State and Territory activities to improve the quality of child care. OCC recognizes that the data requested in the QPR will provide only part of that picture. Because State and Territorial efforts vary based on each Lead Agency's system, we recognize that the data may not be comparable across States and Territories. OCC intends to work with the States and Territories to gather any additional contextual information necessary in order to fully understand these data.

Four topical summary reports with FY2012 data compiled from the first annual QPR submissions are available on the Office of Child Care website www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/occ.

Background: Based on FY 2011 expenditure data, States and Territories spent more than $1billion on quality initiatives. These important investments are critical to ensuring that children in low-income families have access to high-quality care in their communities. However, OCC lacks information about what specific types of quality investments States and Territories are making and the impact they have on families and providers. The QPR was added to the CCDF Plan Preprint to address this lack of information about quality improvement activities being funded by CCDF, and to assist OCC in providing effective technical assistance to support States and Territories in making investments in activities that lead to higher quality child care.

In the QPR, Lead Agencies are asked about the State's or Territory's progress in meeting its goals as reported in the FY 2012-2013 CCDF Plan, and provide available data on the results of those activities. At a minimum, Lead Agencies are expected to respond to the first question in each section of the QPR, which asks for their progress toward meeting their goals{s) articulated in Part 3 of the CCDF Plan (ACF-118) for the FY 2012-2013 biennium. Because of the flexibility in administering the CCDF program, it is expected that Lead Agencies may not have information and data available to respond to all questions. Lead Agencies may provide narrative updates in the data sections, including any plans for reporting data in the future, if actual data is not currently available.

Guidance: State and Territorial Lead Agencies are required to submit a second QPR for FY 2013 (October 1, 20 12-September 30, 2013) by December 31, 2013. The State and Territory QPR (ACF-118 Appendix 1) for FY 2013 is included as Attachment A for reference purposes only. Lead Agencies will use an online submission tool to enter and submit their QPR to ACF via the Web. Lead Agencies should refer to the guidance and definitions included in Attachment B for complete information about how to complete the QPR. Additionally, the electronic submission ("e-submission") process has allowed ACF to embed the guidance and definitions directly into the QPR document and in the e-submission site. Lead Agencies must complete and submit the attached QPR (ACF-118 Appendix 1) via e-submission by December 31, 2013.

This report collects data in relation to the four components of child care quality used as a quality framework in Part 3 ofthe CCDF Plan for FY 2012-2013: 1) ensuring health and safety of children through licensing and health and safety standards; 2) establishing early learning guidelines; 3) creating pathways to excellence for child care programs through program quality improvement activities; and 4) creating pathways to an effective, well-supported child care workforce through professional development systems and workforce initiatives.

For each component, States and Territories are asked to report on progress, including any significant areas of progress that were not anticipated in the plan and on overall goals and key data. OCC recognizes that the data requested in the QPR will provide only part of the picture of State and Territory activities to improve the quality of child care because there are many factors that affect the data being collected here.

Deadlines and Effective Dates: Lead Agencies must submit their QPRs for ACF review no later than December 31,2013.

E-Submission: Lead Agencies will submit the QPR via electronic submission ("e-submission") at: https://extranet.acf.hhs.gov/stplan/STPLAN_Login.jsp. This online tool reflects the approved CCDF Plan Preprint, including the QPR (ACF-118 Appendix 1), which is included here for reference purposes only as Attachment A and available on the Office of Child Care website: https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/occ/state_plan_2012.pdf. In addition to this guidance, OCC will provide additional technical assistance for completing the QPR via the e-submission website, including a separate user's guide.